A family of five plus their grandmother is taking a road trip to Florida. As they get ready to leave the grandma suggests that they go through Tennessee because that's where she grew up. Her son, Bailey disagrees and says they are going through Georgia instead. As the drive they stop at a bar-be-que place called Red Sammy's.While they are there grandma talks to the owner ans tells he's a good man for not making to men pay for their fuel service. They are again on their way to Florida when grandma lies to the children about a secret board in a plantation house she knew not too far off the road they're on. Bailey turns are and heads to the plantation house, but along the way they get into an accident. Everyone is in confused state as a car approaches them with three men in it with guns in hand. Grandma realizes that one the men is the misfit found in that paper earlier. The two other guys take the family back into the woods a few people at a time and kill them. Finally Grandma is the only one left and she takes the misfit by surprise and he shoots her three times in the chest.
Response
The thoughts of Grandma are what take over this whole story. She always expresses her opinion and thinks it’s her way or the highway. She is very self-centered and wants people to go along with what she thinks is right. Her instinct or Id is to tell everyone that they are good people. She only does this to make herself seem like a better person. She changes her morals depending on the person she is talking to and what they’ve done.
Her superego comes into play later in the story when they get into the car accident. This is evident because when she finds out that one of the guys is a misfit she doesn’t do anything, and remains calm. This behavior doesn’t make sense because they whole story she is worried about meeting up with misfit. She believes that he is a good man because he came from a good family, even though in the paper he was proven to be a bad guy. What makes her change her mind? Is it that just because he was raised by a good family that justifies him being okay?
Grandma’s morals change in a way because she thought that bad people doing bad things were terrible to be around, but then the misfit comes along and she’s fine with him. I think this is because the misfit says he did nothing wrong and he still got put in prison, just like Jesus. When the misfit refers to Jesus that immediately catches Grandma’s attention because she is a Christian and she tells the misfit he must pray. This is how the misfit connects with Grandma and makes him a good man in her mind. This is defined by her ever-changing morals that she lives by throughout her life.
Grandma’s ego isn’t really apparent until she finally recognizes that all of her family has been killed off. She cries for Bailey and she can’t believe her son has been killed. She still trusts the misfit though because he said he wouldn’t kill a lady. As she falls into the ditch and is followed by the misfit with his gun she says that he is her child. This is because she realizes that she is just like the misfit. She has done things all her life and been punished for no reason. This has angered her all her life without her realizing why.
These thoughts that are throughout the story are strong and matter-of-factly because they are spoken from the stubborn Grandma. Flannery O’Connor is definitely trying to show that people beliefs can be strong, but that doesn’t mean they’re right or that they won’t change over time.
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